7 Olympic Golds Didn’t Help Caeleb Dressel’s Mental Health Struggles as He Once Named Chlorine The “Biggest Trigger”

Simone Biles isn’t the only one to have braved tumultuous waters and come out strong. The psychological stressors of sport spare no man and ace swimmer Caeleb Dressel was no exception. The iconic US swimmer, was once terrified of chlorine! Dressel, who began swimming at a very early age, now has 7 Olympic gold medals in his kitty. After securing a couple of golds in Rio, Dressel set the waters on fire at Tokyo, clinching a total of five Olympic gold medals. And apart from these, with a medals tally of 31 gold, 9 silver, and 4 bronze, Dressel has surely established himself as a dominant figure of US waters. 

And thus, when Caeleb Dressel spoke about getting terrified of swimming, it was a shocker for the rest of the world. Unfortunately, soon after his triumphant outing in Tokyo, Dressel had to deal with significant mental health challenges that made him doubt whether he would get back to swimming again or not.‘F**KING TERRIBLE. MY BODY IS DONE’ – he once quipped, speaking on the wear and tear of the sport. How exactly has chlorine factored into his mental health now?

Caeleb Dressel gets candid about a rarely seen cause of stress 

Caeleb Dressel sat down for the ‘Unfiltered Waters’ podcast. While discussing various topics, things circled back to the much-talked-about mental health crisis of Dressel. Reflecting on his state, Dressel mentioned how he took the longer way around the campus to avoid getting a view of the pool. He also pointed out avoiding social interactions and run-ins with acquaintances who would probably inquire about his sudden hiatus. 

However, the most shocking revelation in the entire segment came when Dressel claimed to be terrified about chlorine, his Achilles heel. He said, “But terrified of that smelling chlorine sounded like just like the most farfetched idea… huge trigger so I went from avoiding pretty much everything.” The 7x Olympic gold medalist also remembered when his wife, Meghan Haila, took him swimming after a long break with the manatees. 

As the conversation went on, Caeleb Dressel also revealed how he overcame his fears and decided to come back to the waters again. Elaborating on his situation, Dressel stated, “I turned the corner and I was like you know if I if I were to never if I were to never swim again I’m okay and that is when I knew it’s so freeing oh this is how I know I’m ready to come back.” Well, Caeleb Dressel did come back with a flourish and also secured his berth to the Paris Olympics. 

Dressel’s post-comeback thoughts 

Caeleb Dressel returned after an eight-month hiatus to compete at the US National Championships last year. Although he could not replicate his previous antics, for Dressel, spending time in the water was a huge morale booster. Speaking about his thoughts post-comeback, Dressel stated, “I always had a smile on my face actually racing… There is a difference between racing scared because you don’t want to embarrass yourself and then actually enjoying racing. And I haven’t had that enjoyment in quite some time, so it was nice having it back.”

He also mentioned his dreams of making it to the Paris Olympics. As the US trials are on, Dressel has already secured his ticket to Paris. He has also gained clarity of his mega games goal and even quipped by saying that –“and not think of a million things I need to be doing, or what I did wrong in practice, or why I thought I did bad in Tokyo, or why I thought 2019 was terrible.” He will be competing as part of the US relay team in France. Thus, with the mental demons now tamed, the blue waters of Paris are waiting to be under siege by Caeleb Dressel.